Investors Purchase High Volume of Call Options on ImmunityBio (NASDAQ:IBRX)

ImmunityBio, Inc. (NASDAQ:IBRX) saw some unusual options trading activity on Monday. Investors purchased 48,270 call options on the stock. This is an increase of 65% compared to the typical volume of 29,183 call options.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Barry J. Simon sold 75,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $12.01, for a total value of $900,750.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 2,850,821 shares in the company, valued at $34,238,360.21. This trade represents a 2.56% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Christobel Selecky sold 25,000 shares of ImmunityBio stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $10.00, for a total value of $250,000.00. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 501,967 shares of company stock valued at $4,466,412. Insiders own 69.48% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On ImmunityBio

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Armistice Capital LLC acquired a new position in shares of ImmunityBio in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $20,497,000. Heights Capital Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of ImmunityBio in the third quarter worth $16,152,000. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in ImmunityBio by 26.8% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 27,655,205 shares of the company’s stock valued at $68,032,000 after acquiring an additional 5,837,898 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its stake in ImmunityBio by 45.4% during the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 16,455,703 shares of the company’s stock valued at $32,582,000 after acquiring an additional 5,139,890 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its stake in ImmunityBio by 439.4% during the 4th quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 6,152,684 shares of the company’s stock valued at $12,182,000 after acquiring an additional 5,012,001 shares during the last quarter. 8.58% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

ImmunityBio Price Performance

IBRX traded up $1.08 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $10.86. 31,363,871 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 45,216,801. ImmunityBio has a fifty-two week low of $1.83 and a fifty-two week high of $12.43. The company has a market cap of $11.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -28.56 and a beta of -0.04. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $5.27 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $3.39.

ImmunityBio (NASDAQ:IBRX) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, March 2nd. The company reported ($0.06) earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.08) by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $38.29 million during the quarter. On average, research analysts predict that ImmunityBio will post -0.92 earnings per share for the current year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts recently commented on IBRX shares. D. Boral Capital reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $23.00 price target on shares of ImmunityBio in a research report on Monday, February 23rd. HC Wainwright increased their price objective on shares of ImmunityBio from $10.00 to $15.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, February 23rd. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their target price on shares of ImmunityBio from $8.00 to $9.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, December 12th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (e+)” rating on shares of ImmunityBio in a research report on Monday, December 29th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “buy” rating on shares of ImmunityBio in a research report on Monday, February 23rd. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $12.60.

About ImmunityBio

ImmunityBio, Inc is a clinical-stage biotechnology company specializing in the development of novel immunotherapies for cancer and infectious diseases. The company’s research platform centers on harnessing the power of the human immune system—through engineered T cells, natural killer (NK) cells, cytokine superagonists and viral-vectored vaccines—to target and eliminate diseased cells across a range of indications.

Among its lead assets is Anktiva (formerly known as N-803), an interleukin-15 superagonist designed to stimulate NK and T cell activity.